I hope that one day the royal family can buy the Cartier tiara that belonged to Queen Elisabeth of Belgium back.
That's a really beautiful one. I believe it was Princess Liliane who sold it (the house of Cartier then bought it back).
It would be the perfect gift for Princess Elisabeth when she becomes Queen!

Queen Fabiola does not share her personal jewelry with Paola or any other member of the family. The tiara she received from Franco is only used by her (and not very frequently)., as is the tiara she received from jeweller Wolfers.

The Belgian RF owned a lot more jewels in the past, dispite being 'new', but many went to Queen Marie-Jose of Italy, GD Josephine-Charlotte or were sold by Princess Liliane. Of other jewels the whereabouts are unknown to, but they are generally considered to be sold (like the floral diademe of Queen Marie-Henriette).

I suppose I can understand why the dowager Queen Fabiola does not lend out her personal jewelry-it seems to have quite a bit of sentimental value-but I sure wish she did. Queen Fabiola has a stunning collection, truly worthy of a queen. The creative way she used her pieces made it look like she had more than she did.

I am hoping that her collection will remain in the BRF after she passes away.

I do hope that Queen Fabiola leaves the beautiful trefoil leaf tiara to Queen Paola. It would greatly enhance the collection of the Belgian queens, and possibly allow for the smaller of the tiaras to be borrowed occasionally by the crown princess or other family members.

Whenever I see a new post about the Belgian royal Jewels, my heart leaps and I hope that this time we will see a new Tiara or parur on one of the princesses, or Queen, donated maybe by a wealthy Belgian or a Saudi Prince, but alas it is no meant to be

Whenever I see a new post about the Belgian royal Jewels, my heart leaps and I hope that this time we will see a new Tiara or parur on one of the princesses, or Queen, donated maybe by a wealthy Belgian or a Saudi Prince, but alas it is no meant to be

If she hadn't accepted it, that would have been a scandal (offending your hosts! the horror!) and if she'd have asked for something specific that could have always been spun as presumptuous too. And I think the Congolese gov't knew all the possible outcomes and still chose to give her this gift. She did the best thing she could have, IMHO - accept the gift but give it over to the state to take some of the sting off the "scandal".

Yep, if Queen Paola had refused the gift and it was from the First Lady of the Congo, it would have been viewed as a snub and an insult. There is a very bad history of atrocities in the Congo when it was under Belgian rule so this would have added to hard feelings. Let's face it, the King and Queen are very aware of the situation in the DRC and what has happened, they don't live locked up in the palace. In accepting the demi parure and then donating to the State, there was face saving on the part of all parties in the two countries.